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Post by garbulky on Jul 17, 2019 15:26:20 GMT -5
....well yuck. I strongly dislike the sound. Sending it back. Loud isn't necessarily better. I'm surprised Amazon released this.
Edit: Well looks like there is an EQ option! I was able to dial the muddy bass and horrible treble back and though it's not quite as easy on the ears as gen 2, it's not bad. So it may stay!
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Post by garbulky on Aug 16, 2019 22:12:39 GMT -5
I just saw Ellis Marsalis and Herlin Riley in New Orleans! Legends
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Post by novisnick on Aug 16, 2019 22:22:19 GMT -5
I just saw Ellis Marsalis and Herlin Riley in New Orleans! Legends You’re so lucky to have seen them! 👍🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 |
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Post by garbulky on Aug 16, 2019 22:50:15 GMT -5
I just saw Ellis Marsalis and Herlin Riley in New Orleans! Legends You’re so lucky to have seen them! 👍🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 Thanks. It was at snug harbor. It’s so small that it feels much More live acoustic in sound. All the timbre of the instruments are on show. |
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Post by garbulky on Aug 25, 2019 0:18:29 GMT -5
Today I tried the Spears and Munsil HD calibration disc. Unfortunately for my tv, it resulted in a failure, likely due to my lack of knowledge with all the image processing this tv has.
The disc has a way to calibrate the brightness and contrast. The idea is to adjust the contrast till the fainter bars just dissapear but judging from the way the OLED processes its signals it appears to completely blacken out the fainter bars until it goes above a certain digital value. Then immediately ALL the bars including the very faintest are present very clearly. So there is in an inability for me to grade down gradually. It's almost like the tv makes the decision for me.
Maybe the idea is to make the whites "pop" against a sheer black background. And to tell the truth, this works quite well, the image does pop very nicely. But it's due to image processing and therefore some black details are lost in the effort to produce a sharper looking picture - at least for calibration purposes.
A similar thing happens for my contrast bars, it's almost like the more subtle contrast is erased out in the picture processing to produce brighter pictures. So in terms of calibration I'm left with suddenly everything is present (when it's not supposed to) or none of the finer details are present - though the major coarser calibration milestone is acheived.
It's a little annoying because it seems like this tv appears capable of presenting the picture information but its image processing is saying "but it looks nicer this way".
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Post by novisnick on Aug 25, 2019 1:50:45 GMT -5
Today I tried the Spears and Munsil HD calibration disc. Unfortunately for my tv, it resulted in a failure, likely due to my lack of knowledge with all the image processing this tv has. The disc has a way to calibrate the brightness and contrast. The idea is to adjust the contrast till the fainter bars just dissapear but judging from the way the OLED processes its signals it appears to completely blacken out the fainter bars until it goes above a certain digital value. Then immediately ALL the bars including the very faintest are present very clearly. So there is in an inability for me to grade down gradually. It's almost like the tv makes the decision for me. Maybe the idea is to make the whites "pop" against a sheer black background. And to tell the truth, this works quite well, the image does pop very nicely. But it's due to image processing and therefore some black details are lost in the effort to produce a sharper looking picture - at least for calibration purposes. A similar thing happens for my contrast bars, it's almost like the more subtle contrast is erased out in the picture processing to produce brighter pictures. So in terms of calibration I'm left with suddenly everything is present (when it's not supposed to) or none of the finer details are present - though the major coarser calibration milestone is acheived. It's a little annoying because it seems like this tv appears capable of presenting the picture information but its image processing is saying "but it looks nicer this way". Sorry to hear your sorrows with calibrating your TV. I’ve used that disc as well as the Disney one and have never gotten an outcome that I was satisfied with. This was on several Samsung’s. I saved some coin and had it done by my local Best Buy. They have a training program and the gear runs about 15K that they use to calibrate TVs. I’ve been extremely happy with their results. They also e-mail the before and after settings to you. In case you mess up your setting you have a backup. Good luck my friend! |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 15, 2019 1:09:52 GMT -5
Were you this good at 12?
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Post by geeqner on Sept 17, 2019 10:54:35 GMT -5
Gar - If you have your TT setup tweaked / got a good stylus on it - The next logical step would be to upgrade your phono stage I have not heard it, but I HAVE heard that BOTH of the following are good, and also RELATIVELY INEXPENSIVE: - SCHIIT MANI = $129.00
- EMOTIVA XPS-1 = $209.00
I would lay good money on either of them providing a SIGNIFICANT improvement in what you are hearing from your vinyl - Either is probably WAY better than the phono stage that is built-into most Integrated Amps / Receivers / etc.... |
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Post by jackfish on Sept 17, 2019 11:22:57 GMT -5
The Bellari VP130 MK2 Phono Preamp with a Mullard or Tung-Sol 12AX7 tube is pretty good as well for $295.
"The versatile Bellari looks great and it sounded as good as it looks. It was quiet and golden-sweet and liquid in the midrange, as you’d expect from a 12AX7-based phono preamp. I wasn’t expecting its top end to be so nicely extended, fast, and clean, or its bass to be so snappy, articulate, and extended. Every type of music I played through the surprising little Bellari sounded full-bodied and rich, yet detailed and crisply rendered. The Bellari gets my highest recommendation, and is the budget phono preamp I will now recommend for every genre of music…get a Bellari and a budget turntable, and I promise that your CDs will start to gather dust!”
– Michael Fremer, Stereophile
“The Bargain of a Lifetime Tube Phono Stage. For (this price), the Bellari Tube Phonostage offers warm musical sound and may be just what the doctor ordered for those who want to get into analog without loading up the credit card.”
– The Absolute Sound
“I was surprised by how attractive and well balanced it sounded: smooth and warm, yet open and crisply detailed. The Bellari seemed to create a sound that was rich, natural and appealing. Surface noise was low, and the music emerged from a crisp, clean, quiet background. It was an excellent sound by almost any standards; one I was very happy to listen to. An excellent performer at a very reasonable price!”
– Jimmy Hughes, HiFi+
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Post by garbulky on Sept 26, 2019 23:20:34 GMT -5
RMC-1 L product literature
Did they though? Because instead of an XMC-1, there is an XMC-2 right now. I will say that they are allowing for the REPLACEMENT of their processor at a very reasonable price for owners. But that's not a modular upgrade.
So let's get some specifics. How many, many years and what kind of upgrades?
I figure they would have to at least support HDMI 2.1 upgrades. But that is essentially knocking at our door with some (expensive) 8k displays already supporting HDMI 2.1. So if they are planning for many years, can their existing DSP engines, processors, and input/output connectors really cope with what's needed?
How long would it take for upgrades to come out to keep it "cutting edge"? Remember how hard long it took to come up with the HDMI 2.0 upgrade? Isn't it rash to promise "cutting edge" and "many many years" without some specifics?
Why not make concrete promises and simply say we'll do the best we can with anything coming up in the future.
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Post by Boomzilla on Sept 27, 2019 1:46:19 GMT -5
Specifics? SPECIFICS?!? You want SPECIFICS?  |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 27, 2019 10:07:03 GMT -5
Specifics? SPECIFICS?!? You want SPECIFICS? I think if a company promises something huge and they have had trouble delivering it before, they need to step up to show how they can do better with specifics!  |
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stiehl11
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Post by stiehl11 on Sept 27, 2019 10:49:45 GMT -5
RMC-1 L product literature Did they though? Because instead of an XMC-1, there is an XMC-2 right now. I will say that they are allowing for the REPLACEMENT of their processor at a very reasonable price for owners. But that's not a modular upgrade. There is a very good reason for this. I'm surprised you're not aware of the ins and outs of it by now. I'm pretty sure it's in the XMC-1/XMC-2 threads. "So let's get some specifics. How many, many years and what kind of upgrades? I figure they would have to at least support HDMI 2.1 upgrades. But that is essentially knocking at our door with some (expensive) 8k displays already supporting HDMI 2.1. So if they are planning for many years, can their existing DSP engines, processors, and input/output connectors really cope with what's needed? How long would it take for upgrades to come out to keep it "cutting edge"? Remember how hard long it took to come up with the HDMI 2.0 upgrade? Isn't it rash to promise "cutting edge" and "many many years" without some specifics? Why not make concrete promises and simply say we'll do the best we can with anything coming up in the future. How many years? As many as the output channels are relevant to the needs of the customers. A new format comes out that exceeds the amount of channels (like the XMC-1), then likely will get a new box. |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 27, 2019 11:21:14 GMT -5
RMC-1 L product literature Did they though? Because instead of an XMC-1, there is an XMC-2 right now. I will say that they are allowing for the REPLACEMENT of their processor at a very reasonable price for owners. But that's not a modular upgrade. There is a very good reason for this. I'm surprised you're not aware of the ins and outs of it by now. I'm pretty sure it's in the XMC-1/XMC-2 threads. "So let's get some specifics. How many, many years and what kind of upgrades? I figure they would have to at least support HDMI 2.1 upgrades. But that is essentially knocking at our door with some (expensive) 8k displays already supporting HDMI 2.1. So if they are planning for many years, can their existing DSP engines, processors, and input/output connectors really cope with what's needed? How long would it take for upgrades to come out to keep it "cutting edge"? Remember how hard long it took to come up with the HDMI 2.0 upgrade? Isn't it rash to promise "cutting edge" and "many many years" without some specifics? Why not make concrete promises and simply say we'll do the best we can with anything coming up in the future. How many years? As many as the output channels are relevant to the needs of the customers. A new format comes out that exceeds the amount of channels (like the XMC-1), then likely will get a new box. I'm pretty aware of the reasons though I might have missed some details. I think Emotiva did the right thing when they realized the XMC-1 was in fact not feasible to be upgradable via modules. The upgrade to XMC-2 was very reasonable in price. But it had nothing to do with modules. The XMC-1 upgrade plan was to discard it and buy an XMC-2 at a discount. While they developed a replacement XMC-2, it kept customers waiting through long delays on getting upgradable modules. And that's what I'm saying. If you say "cutting edge" and "many many years", customers are not going to read that as "HDMI 2" and "as long as the channels are enough". They will rightfully read that as "I buy one processor and don't have to throw that away. I just slide in the modules that will be provided to me in a timely manner to keep me cutting edge." But if Emotiva doesn't know beyond HDMI 2.1 then they should simply state that and say that they hope to continue beyond not that they will. My desktop pc is upgradable. I can replace all kinds of things. But no computer manufacturer will ever claim that it will remain cutting edge for many many years. Because they can't. Modular upgrades have limits. Eventually my power supply will be inadequate, my motherboard will not fit the latest processor requiring total replacement of all the parts and software. |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 27, 2019 11:48:51 GMT -5
Since getting this new mechanical keyboard, I hit a new peak wpm at 110 wpm. I now average about 94 wpm with a low speed of 82-85 wpm. My previous average was in the mid 80's. If anybody is interested it's this $45 unit. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VRJ8Y4Y/(And the lights can be turned off.) |
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Post by Boomzilla on Sept 27, 2019 11:59:05 GMT -5
How interesting - I tried a mechanical keyboard and absolutely HATED it. The click feedback does nothing to speed me up at all. I'm happy they work for you, but they sure aren't for everyone...
Boom
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stiehl11
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Post by stiehl11 on Sept 27, 2019 12:24:13 GMT -5
There is a very good reason for this. I'm surprised you're not aware of the ins and outs of it by now. I'm pretty sure it's in the XMC-1/XMC-2 threads. How many years? As many as the output channels are relevant to the needs of the customers. A new format comes out that exceeds the amount of channels (like the XMC-1), then likely will get a new box. I'm pretty aware of the reasons though I might have missed some details. I think Emotiva did the right thing when they realized the XMC-1 was in fact not feasible to be upgradable via modules. The upgrade to XMC-2 was very reasonable in price. But it had nothing to do with modules. The XMC-1 upgrade plan was to discard it and buy an XMC-2 at a discount. While they developed a replacement XMC-2, it kept customers waiting through long delays on getting upgradable modules. And that's what I'm saying. If you say "cutting edge" and "many many years", customers are not going to read that as "HDMI 2" and "as long as the channels are enough". They will rightfully read that as "I buy one processor and don't have to throw that away. I just slide in the modules that will be provided to me in a timely manner to keep me cutting edge." But if Emotiva doesn't know beyond HDMI 2.1 then they should simply state that and say that they hope to continue beyond not that they will. My desktop pc is upgradable. I can replace all kinds of things. But no computer manufacturer will ever claim that it will remain cutting edge for many many years. Because they can't. Modular upgrades have limits. Eventually my power supply will be inadequate, my motherboard will not fit the latest processor requiring total replacement of all the parts and software. I will, respectfully, disagree on many of the things in your post; although some of it may be "splitting hairs". The XMC-1 was totally upgradable by modules. Lonnie and I had a (relatively) long conversation about this at AXPONA. The short answer on why Emotiva went to the XMC-2 is cost. There were 2 development paths to bring ATMOS to the XMC: update the XMC-1 or make it a scaled version of the RMC-1/1L. While the cost of the boards was one factor, it was the development cost of porting DIRAC to a different architecture than what they just did for the new platform. And the continued cost of supporting two platforms with two different formats. By making the XMC-2 a scaled version of the RMC-1/1L they saved the development cost, already amortized into the cost of the RMC-1/1L, of programing and porting DIRAC to the platform. Simply put, the cost of designing new boards, the firmware for those boards, the continued support of a different architecture, and the cost of porting DIRAC to that architecture was higher than giving us a scaled version of a platform that had all that already in the works/finished. It's not that it couldn't be done; there was just a more cost effective way to do it in Emotiva's perspective. As for desktop computers; I have a tower that I built in 2003 that, had I upgraded every time there was a new "something" would still be "cutting edge" today. Granted, the internals of the box would not be the same as they were in 2003. But, the box would be the same. If I were to upgrade it now it would likely be more cost efficient to just buy a new computer. And, the same thing would/will be applicable to the XMC-1/XMC-2. Most of us have upgraded our video boards to the V3 board. Some, had upgraded to the V2 board. And I wouldn't be surprised that there were a few that did both. Assuming that someone bought the original XMC-1 and upgraded the video boards each time then upgraded to the original proposal of ATMOS how much of the original XMC-1 would be left? How much would they have spent overall on their XMC-1? Eventually, depending on how long Emotiva continues the platform, the only thing that will resemble the XMC-2 of 2019 is the box that holds the boards. And, as long as Emotiva stays in the processor business, they will have a video board for whatever standard is relevant at that time. Whether or not it will be timely much less cutting edge can be debatable based on their previous history. As long as the RMC-1/1L/XMC-2 architecture is their base chassis, it will fit in those platforms.  |
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klinemj
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Post by klinemj on Sept 27, 2019 14:15:33 GMT -5
I agree with Dave on the reasons. The XMC-1 was indeed upgradable and there were HDMI board upgrades. Recall that the RMC-1 was originally going to be based on the same technology platform as the XMC-1. But, once they changed the technology platform for the RMC-1, that put them in position to support 2 platforms or merge them back to 1. Smart move on Emotiva's part to merge them, in my opinion. They'll be more efficient, which means savings $ and time...time that can be used on more products!
And, the trade-in deal to any of the new architectures is fantastic.
Mark
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Post by garbulky on Sept 27, 2019 15:12:19 GMT -5
I'm not disagreeing with you two on any of it. There (quickly) comes a point when upgrading modules becomes cost prohibitive and the solution is to throw out the old box and put in a new unit. And Emotiva has absolutely to their credit given a truly great price on the replacement XMC-2 for the original XMC-1 owners.
Except - the promise is modular upgrades for a long time. Not modular upgrades till it's not practical and then you have a new box which you have to re-setup etc. Note there's never been a guarantee that people are going to get the RMC-2 or whatever replacement for a great price. The realities may seem simple to people that know the deal except I've talked to several people that bought the XMC-1 because they were assured that they would get modules to be installed.
The promise of upgradability for a long long time is a STRONG selling point. It is so because nobody has managed to deliver on such a thing. The closest a company has gotten is Schiit Audio with their bifrost - which only recently they had to declare end of life. Technically their Gugnir is still functional as a fully upgradable product but it too will soon be termed end of life.
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Post by davidl81 on Sept 27, 2019 15:35:45 GMT -5
I'm not disagreeing with you two on any of it. There (quickly) comes a point when upgrading modules becomes cost prohibitive and the solution is to throw out the old box and put in a new unit. And Emotiva has absolutely to their credit given a truly great price on the replacement XMC-2 for the original XMC-1 owners. Except - the promise is modular upgrades for a long time. Not modular upgrades till it's not practical and then you have a new box which you have to re-setup etc. Note there's never been a guarantee that people are going to get the RMC-2 or whatever replacement for a great price. The realities may seem simple to people that know the deal except I've talked to several people that bought the XMC-1 because they were assured that they would get modules to be installed. The promise of upgradability for a long long time is a STRONG selling point. It is so because nobody has managed to deliver on such a thing. The closest a company has gotten is Schiit Audio with their bifrost - which only recently they had to declare end of life. Technically their Gugnir is still functional as a fully upgradable product but it too will soon be termed end of life. I'm sure it is a deal of Emotiva (although with the best of intentions) over promising and under delivering on the XMC-1. I'm sure they really thought they would be able to upgrade it when they designed it (thus how all of the main parts are on modular boards), but when reality set in they found it wildly impractical to implement the upgrades to the XMC at a cost that would make sense for the XMC consumer. Its why there is very little mention about the RMC being "future proof". They have mentioned how it is designed to be up gradable for a period of time, but there (to the best of my knowledge) has been no talk about "Buy this box and its the last box you will need for 15 years". |
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